You answered your own question. You installed Media Player 9.x, which is bloated, and is probably running at startup. Go to start -> run -> type in "MSCONFIG" <enter> then click the startup tab, look for a media player entry and uncheck it.

1.) Media Player becomes more bloated with each and every release. I'm still using 6.x, that came with Win98, screapped 7 that shipped with ME, and will NEVER upgrade to the newer versions until absolutely forced to. To give you an example, my brother managed to trash his entire computer because he foolishly clicked "yes" when Windows told him he should upgrade to a "newer" version of media player...

2.) DO NOT EVER install RealPlayer. There is nothing you can say to justify installing this bloated, spyware-filled software package on your machine.

3.) DITTO FOR QT - The only thing less stable than a port from Windows to Mac is a port from Mac to Windows Talk about silly - if you open QuickTime movie player, then go file -> open to open a movie file, IT OPENS A NEW PLAYER to play the movie - duh. I'd like to meet the programmers who came up with that one!